Su Er emerged from the fireplace, dizzy and utterly exhausted, with the old soot from Snape's long-uncleaned fireplace clinging to his hair and face, his stomach rumbling.
Swaying, he braced himself against the red bricks beside the fireplace and struggled to find the nearest sofa, then flopped into it with a sigh of relief.
He also weakly raised a hand in greeting to the formally dressed woman sitting opposite him.
"Good afternoon, Aunt. Is there anything to eat?"
Back at Snape's house, the professor had shown no inclination whatsoever to make his guest feel at home. Or perhaps he simply had no habit of eating lunch?
In short, Su Er, who had already digested every bit of his breakfast after their "evenly matched" magical duel-a one-sided thrashing-had then endured Snape's one-sided verbal assault on an empty stomach, leaving his battery completely drained.
The fireplace in Snape's house was connected to the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley. Once Snape had thoroughly vented his spleen, he had wasted no time driving away his good student, Su Er.
"This is a present I brought you. I'll leave it here, Professor."
Su Er was used to it by now. At school, Snape drove him out of his office in exactly the same way, but he still went back the next day when he needed to.
Learning really did have to be combined with practice. Although Snape was rather brutal, he was an excellent professor. Most people simply could not endure his teaching methods-or rather, Snape was more accustomed to incorporating his teaching into actual combat.
Simply put: watch closely, this is how I do it. Whether you can learn anything from what I do is your own business.
As for the torrents of venom he spewed in Potions Class, oh, that was Harry's special